In February 2022, the Russia-Ukraine conflict, which seemed to have cooled down, suddenly escalated, and after more than a year of development, it has become a local war affecting the world. Although the war continues, diplomatic exchanges with Western countries have not stopped.
For us, peace is the best option. In order to better resolve this conflict, on July 5, 2022, the United Nations and the International Order Conference was held in Beijing.
China, Russia and Western countries are discussing ways to resolve the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. At the meeting, the Russian diplomatic ambassador quoted ***'s words, which directly pointed out the essence of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
So, what are the root causes of this conflict? And how did the Russian ambassador refute the statements of Western countries?
On July 5, 2022, nearly five months have passed since the Russia-Ukraine conflict escalated into a local war. At the moment, the war is in a stalemate, an outcome that most countries did not anticipate.
If the war continues and the contradictions continue to intensify, it will undoubtedly be a big challenge for Western countries, especially those that depend on Russia's natural resources.
From a geographical point of view, Ukraine is an important bridge for communication between Western countries and Russia. Russia and Western countries, especially Germany, have long had gas cooperation.
Through thousands of kilometers of natural gas pipelines, Germany and other Western countries have obtained stable and cheap natural gas resources. These pipelines, Ukraine is a must-pass. For Ukraine, these pipelines also bring a steady income.
If the war does not end as soon as possible, gas ** will be seriously affected and may even have a negative impact on the world pattern. The United Nations-sponsored conference is dedicated to resolving the issue of world peace.
At the meeting, the Russian diplomatic ambassador was isolated and attacked by the ambassadors of Britain and the United States and other countries. US Ambassador Burns first made the accusation, arguing that Russia's attack on Ukraine was wrong, because throughout the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, Ukraine did not use force to provoke or violate Russian territory, and Russia's military action violated the UN Charter.
At the same time, Burns also said that the death of civilians in Ukraine after the escalation of the conflict has caused a global food crisis. To Burns' baseless accusations, Russian Ambassador Denisov responded in a polite manner.
While it is true that Ukraine has not directly violated Russian territory, many of its actions have had a huge impact on Russia, which is unacceptable to Russia. Denisov believes that civilians cannot be avoided and is not the responsibility of Russia, nevertheless, Russia has dealt with the problem properly.
In addition, he noted that the ** of the civilian population in Ukraine is actually the result of NATO expansion.
Towards the end of the meeting, Denisov quoted ***: "There are two sides to everything, and the world should see the other side of things". This sentence implies that the essence of the Russia-Ukraine conflict is not that Russia takes the initiative to provoke the war, but that it is the result of NATO's continuous expansion.
Although the international situation has a certain impact on the conflict between the two countries, from an ethnic point of view, Russia and Ukraine are in the same vein, close relations, and there are many similarities in terms of culture and tradition.
Therefore, Denisov stressed that the crux of the problem lies in the blockade and deliberate difficulties of Western countries, which have triggered the global food crisis.
Over time, there was a divergence in the direction of the development of Russia and Ukraine. While Ukraine was still under Polish rule, Russia had already entered the tsarist stage and was strong.
The contradictions between Ukraine and the Polish rulers gradually intensified, especially on the issue of equality, and Ukraine could not tolerate Polish contempt. However, Ukraine was not strong enough at that time to achieve independence, and any sudden uprising could lead to being suppressed by Poland.
In order to ensure security, Ukraine pinned its hopes on Russia in the east, that is, the tsar ** at that time. This request is beneficial to Russia, because they have a common ancestor in history.
Subsequently, Russia agreed to Ukraine's request, and together they attacked Poland. Under a powerful Russian attack, Poland was forced to make concessions. Since then, the eastern regions of Ukraine have achieved relative independence, while the western regions of Ukraine remain part of Poland.
Over the course of history, Russia has continued to expand eastward, seizing large swaths of territory that originally belonged to Ukraine. During this time, relations between the two countries were relatively friendly. However, the question eventually emerged: Ukraine wanted to be able to stand on its own and not become part of Russia.
Although they share a common historical origin, Ukrainians are determined to uphold the bottom line of independence and autonomy. Therefore, the Ukrainian people began to actively work to promote the unity and independence of the country.
However, the tsar** believed that Ukraine should belong to **, the two are one and the same, and Ukraine should not be independent. This view has sparked conflicts and contradictions between the two sides.
The Ukrainian people aspire to independence, while Russia is trying to assimilate Ukraine. Unable to reach a consensus, Russia decided to use coercive means, through military and political force, to force Ukraine to accept its demands.
In the days that followed, Russia issued a series of decrees restricting the use of the Ukrainian language by the Ukrainian people. These decrees are becoming more and more stringent, and any activity related to the Ukrainian language is prohibited.
Violations are considered serious violations. Such measures have deepened the discontent and resistance of the Ukrainian people and increased tensions between the two countries.
After that, Russia changed its name to Ukraine as "Little Russia", and its great power made it powerless to resist. Although the majority of Ukrainians are inwardly opposed to this, the conflict between Ukraine and Russia has continued.
Ukraine wants to achieve full independence, but Russia is firmly against it, so Ukraine has repeatedly launched armed uprisings. However, before the formation of the Soviet Union, Ukraine's independence was never successful.
After the October Revolution, the Soviet Union became the de facto ruling power of Russia and Ukraine**. During this time, several political systems emerged in Ukraine, including Ukraine's own polity, Russia's polity, and even Germany's and Poland's.
These forces have their own armies in Ukraine, and for a moment, the ultimate belonging of Ukraine becomes ambiguous. After a hard armed struggle, the Soviet regime finally emerged victorious, leading the Ukrainian people to join the Soviet Union.
Tsarist Russia and the Soviet Union treated Ukraine very differently. Tsarist Russia attempted to annex Ukraine to ** and adopted draconian measures, leading to continued resistance of the Ukrainian people.
And the Soviet Union, although it also included Ukraine as part of the Soviet republic, respected the needs of the Ukrainian people and gave them freedom. However, over time, serious problems were identified in the USSR.
They found that the basis of the victory of Soviet power was the proletariat and the working class, from which the main part of the power also came. However, Ukraine's political power comes mainly from other strata, which is fundamentally at odds with the core ideals of socialism.
The USSR at that time was not strong enough to carry out large-scale political reforms in Ukraine. If it was too rushed, it could cause significant losses to the strength of the USSR, and possibly even fall short.
Therefore, the USSR had to find a more appropriate way to deal with relations with Ukraine.
While the Soviet Union was still dealing with the Ukrainian question, Ukraine had already united Germany, Austria and Poland to form the Ukrainian People's Republic. Although this did not achieve full independence of Ukraine, it laid the foundation for future independence.
In the early years of the Soviet Union, some contradictions arose between Russia and Ukraine. Ukraine at that time was in a difficult period and urgently needed the help of the USSR. However, poor decision-making has allowed Ukraine to suffer even greater losses instead of the aid it expected.
According to the data, as a result of this incident, the population of Ukraine decreased by a quarter, which is a major blow to any country. Although this matter is related to Russia, it cannot be blamed solely on Russia.
However, the feelings of the population are difficult to control, and because of past grievances, the Ukrainian people naturally put this on the head of Russia. The two countries, which were supposed to be fraternal friendships, ended up being enemies who would go to war if they disagreed with each other.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine ushered in the dawn of independence. As the second largest country after Russia, it is rich in natural resources. However, economic problems have always been in the heart of Ukraine, and neither the change of policy nor ** can be solved.
For a long time, Ukraine's GDP has been among the poorest countries by the standards of Western countries, which contrasts sharply with its abundant resources.
On the political front, although independent, the situation is not rosy. For historical reasons, Ukraine was once divided into east and west, and there were great differences between the two parts politically and culturally.
The peoples and parties in the east are more inclined to cooperate with Russia, while the people and parties in the west want to cooperate with the West, and even hope to be able to join NATO, and this difference is almost irreconcilable.
Over time, the contradictions between the eastern and western parts of Ukraine have become more and more acute. In the end, the Crimea region was chosen to be annexed to Russia after a referendum.
This action has increased tensions between Ukraine and Russia. Subsequently, two regions of Ukraine declared independence and became republics, bringing tensions between the two countries to the brink of eruption.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia was the most powerful of all its allies. Although Russia is a capitalist country politically, the United States and Western countries, which are also in the capitalist camp, do not regard it as allies, but are cautious about its actions.
Not only did they impose restrictions on Russia in various areas in order to curb its development, but they also feared that if Russia was allowed to develop freely, a second Soviet Union could emerge.
It was the step-by-step pressing of Western countries that finally forced Russia to respond, leading to the escalation of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.
The damage caused by war to world peace cannot be ignored, but the study of war cannot be generalized and should be analyzed from multiple angles. In the case of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, although the main players are Russia and Ukraine, there are far more countries affected than these two, and the reasons for the escalation of the conflict are not as simple as they seem.
In any case, a peaceful resolution of international conflicts remains the best option.